naptime and bedtime routines with twins & older singleton.

04-05-2008, 02:51 PM

I have 11 week old ID girls and a 2.5 yr old ds. I was wondering what those of you do for naps and a bedtime routine. Currently my ds needs my husband or myself to lay with him until he falls asleep. If I am alone, this are pretty hard. The girls are so fussy when I am giving ds dinner and bath. I wear both of them in the ultimate baby wrap, but they are getting to big for it and it is very hard to get my ds pj's on while wearing both of them, but it is better than listening to 2 babies scream! To put ds to bed, I will sit in his bed and nurse the girls and tell him a story. Ds afternoon nap we all take together in our bed with the crib side carred. Any suggestions on what works best for bedtime and naps for you all. How do you do it with more than on kid!?! I feel pulled in so many directions and not sure I can meet everyone's needs some days.

I am curious to see responses to this thread. I don't have any experience to offer (yet), but have a 4 year old who still requires lots of bedtime attention and twins on the way. My husband travels a lot, so I'll be managing bedtime on my own many nights. I have no idea how it's going to work! I hope you get some wonderful answers, and that I can learn from them as well.

Comment

I don't have twins or anything, but I do have two children of similar ages to you. My dd is 26months and my DS is 13weeks old. For a while, I found it very very very difficult to get my DD down for her afternoon nap unless my DS was completely asleep. This was very draining for me and not a happy thing because I'd spend nearly all day trying to time my DS's sleep/napping w/ my DD's nap time so that I could try to get him asleep and then spend 15 to 30 min w/ my DD to get her to sleep. I always felt rushed with my daughter and stressed that my son would wake up. Plus, it could take me well over an hour or two to just get my son down asleep enough that he wouldn't wake the moment' I laid him down.

Now, I kinda have the opposite problem. I'm able to get my DD down w/o a problem (I'll share our routine in sec.), but my DS doesn't nap unless I'm holding him the entire time!

Anyway...to get my DD asleep, I bring my DS in her room and lay DS down on her bed w/ some lights on. If he is fussy, I try the pacifier for him or the vibrating bouncy seat. Usually, he is happy to look at the lights and is so tired from his own lack of napping that simply having a nice bed and my daughter not screaming in that normal toddler way that he nearly falls asleep himself. My DD and I read our books and then turn off the light. If my DD or my DS start to fuss, I then start singing and cuddling. After a few minutes of this, I lay my DD in her crib (she's awake) and continue to sing as my DS and I walk out the door. Prior to their both needing me to sing, I would just cuddle silently with my daughter. Singing seems to calm them both down. My DD gets the physical touch she needs from me holding her and my DS is okay w/ my not holding him at that moment since he can hear my voice and probably sense that I'm only a foot away anyway...

I hope that you get more responses because I'm eager to read them as well. Balancing my two children has been a challenge for me and I always worry and feel guilty that I'm not able to meet all of their needs at the exact moment they always need me...